The Dutch authorities have started their first-ever judicial proceedings for a breach of euthanasia laws. According to a statement by a public prosecutor in The Hague, a doctor gave a severe dementia sufferer a 'secret' dose of a sedative right before obtaining approval for the procedure. The medical complaints board has already found her guilty.
Sputnik discussed the issue with Professor Theo Boer, who teaches ethics at Groningen's Protestant Theological University and is a leading expert on the ethics of assisted dying...
read « 250% Increase' in Euthanasia Cases in 10 Years »
In November 2015 several psychiatrists, ethicists, lawyers and health professionals in Belgium gave voice to their profound concern: there is something fundamentally wrong with euthanasia in Belgium on the basis of purely psychological suffering. Two Belgian women, Sophie and Lotte Nys, just recently revealed the story of the death of Tine, their sister. On April 27 2010, Tine received euthanasia on the basis of " unbearable psychological suffering " because of "an incurable disease". Six years after the facts her family is still haunted by the experience and left behind with questions. Sophie and Lotte testified about this in a news programme of the Belgian - Flemish national television, Terzake (February 2) .
Tine Nys formulated her euthanasia request 4 months before her death. The fatal disease from which she suffered, autism, was diagnosed two months after the request. Fifteen years earlier Tine had been in psychiatric treatment for some time, and even attempted suicide. She clearly had gone through a very difficult period in her life. Yet, later on, she succeeded to build a regular life. She had a nice job, friends and family, all kinds of plans. 8 months before she died, however, she fell in a deep crisis after a relational break up and was haunted again by the wish to die: she went looking for a psychiatrist to help to end her life...
read « The fast traject to death: euthanasia for mental suffering in Belgium »
Accepting a mentally ill prisoner's request to be executed shows up the madness of Belgium's euthanasia laws.
early 20 years after Belgium abolished the death penalty – and 64 years after it's last execution – the Belgian courts have agreed to a prisoner's request for a state execution. The prisoner, Frank Van Den Bleeken, sought the right to be executed because he was 'suffering unbearably' from a life-long psychiatric condition, according to his lawyer Jos Vander Velpen...
read « Belgium's insane right-to-die laws »
Theo Boer is a Dutch medical ethicist who has changed his mind on euthanasia. This is an article he wrote for the UK's Dail Mail warning the House of Lords not to pass an "assisted dying" bill.
In 2001 The Netherlands was the first country in the world to legalize euthanasia and, along with it, assisted suicide. Various safeguards were put in place to show who should qualify and doctors acting in accordance with these safeguards would not be prosecuted. Because each case is unique, five regional review committees were installed to assess every case and to decide whether it complied with the law...
read « We were wrong, says former regulator of Dutch euthanasia »
Euthanasie Stop - https://www.euthanasiestop.be
February 2023